Never Go Back
by AlexisFlare
Summary: *Warning for spoilers Set in Season 6 episode 11 Appointment In Samarra* Dean, Cas and Bobby wait on Death for the return of Sams soul only to hear it's gone missing when a demon named Alex shows up claiming to know them all and wants to help them. Can they figure out who he is really?
1. Chapter 1

Dean sat beside his soulless brother who was handcuffed to the bed as he waited for Death to return and for this... This nightmare to all be over and for him and Sam to get back to hunting the creepy crap like before. Before the apocalypse, their trips to hell and before either of them died. Back to the beginning just them, the Impala, the road and hunting but with Bobby and Cas to help this time around. "Dean. You can't do this to me! This thing will destroy me!" Sam yelled out at his brother, struggling, trying desperately to escape the handcuffs. Dean sighed and dropped his head into his hands he hated seeing his brother like this but what else was he meant to do? Sure lately Sam had become a great hunter, possibly the best he'd ever seen, but if Dean was honest he scared him. He was scared of his own freaking baby brother and that was a though that made him nauseous. As he looked back at Sam he saw his brother was staring at him like some kind of lost puppy and it took everything he had not to just un-cuff Sam and let him walk away without getting his soul back but he sat there averting his eyes and humming Metallica to drown out Sam's pleas and tried to wait out the remaining time until Death arrived.

"Well Dean I'm afraid I bring bad news." Death said as he appeared next to where Dean was sat. "What d'ya mean by that?" Bobby asked as he walked into the panic room. Death's eyes flickered from Dean, to Sam, to Bobby and finally to Castiel who was stood to the right of the doorframe. "When I got there his soul was already gone. So was Adams." he told them as he walked to the other side of the room. "What? How? How is his soul gone?" Dean asked as he stood up suddenly and out of the corner of his eye he noticed the person in charge of ship Sam smirking at the idea of not having his soul returned to him. "I mean what I said Dean. Your brothers souls aren't in Lucifers cage, at least not anymore." Death told him frustratedly and ran his thumb over the top of his cane feeling every blemish, indentation, scratch and fault that time had placed upon it. "Well then where are they?" Dean asked with a hint of anger in his tone. "I don't know. But I can find out though I will need a little time. A deal is a deal so I will find his soul and bring it back so I have upheld my end of our little bargain." Death informed him before staring into the darkness behind the doorframe. "I know where they are." a voice said from the shadows.

The owner of the voice stepped into view of the rooms occupants and stood leaning against the door. He was young, no more than twenty, with aquamarine coloured eyes and short, dark, shaggy brown hair. He was fairly tall but still shorter than Dean and he had a fair amount of muscle. "Hi Dean, Bobby, Cas. I assume that you're Death?" the man said in a slightly melodic voice as he received nods from the others. "Who are you?" Dean asked as he glared at the unknown man. "Let's just say we're acquaintances only not in this form." he smiled as his eyes flickered black for a few seconds. "You're a demon! Meg?" Dean shouted as the realisation hit him only to have the stranger laugh at him. "No Dean. I'm not Meg, although I can tell why you may have thought that. Let's see I can't make this too easy for you so you can call me Alex." the man said and continued smiling in a way that slightly unnerved Dean. "How do we know we can trust you? You are a demon after all." Dean asked cautiously and noticed the shocked stare Sam was giving this "Alex" fellow, almost as if he knew him and was surprised that he could ever be here. "Well Adams soul will be easy for Cas to go check out. It's in heaven. His soul was taken back at the earliest possible moment so he couldn't change his mind about being Michaels vessel seeing as there was no way they'd get you to do it." Alex told them sighing as though this should be common knowledge to them. Cas instantly vanished for the space of no more than ten seconds. "He's right. Adams soul is in heaven." Cas confirmed. They all stared at Alex each with their own thoughts but all basically reading "this is a trick of some kind" apart from Death who approached Alex and as he walked past him muttered something causing Alex to follow him.

Death stopped abruptly as soon as they were out of earshot of the others in Bobby's kitchen and Alex did the same. "I take it you know who I am, or rather who I was when I was human." he said as he picked up a knife and played around with it. "Yes I do. I take it you'd like the secret kept between the two of us." he asked and Alex nodded in response not looking up from the knife in his hands. "Dean would refuse to believe it anyway... Hell, not even Crowley knows who I used to be and I'll use that to my advantage so I can get close to him and then him down." Alex grinned and gripped the knife tightly feeling the cold blade slice through his hand and seeing the thick blood slide down the knife and slowly drip off from the tip. Alex stared at it, almost mesmerised by it as though it was something of exquisite beauty and it was exquisite to him just not in beauty but in taste, a taste that had remained with him since he was human after all in Hell cravings never disperse and detox never ends, addictions remain until the end of time itself. Alex quickly drew his eyes away, cleaned the knife and returned it to where he had found it. He would not give in to the temptations thrown in his face, he had made a promise in life to his dear brother and he would not break that. He walked back to the doorframe of the panic room as Death vanished and leant against it again. "Well Death has gone back to his day job and the search and I am offering my assistance to you." he smirked as he bowed mockingly although they could still sense the seriousness behind his offer of help. "And why would you help us?" Dean asked as he undid Sams handcuffs seeing as he wouldn't go crazy if his soul was lost. "You wouldn't believe me even if I tried to explain." Alex told them as he gave a dark smirk that didn't quite penetrate the sadness in his eyes.

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_Hey :) So I'm posting my first fic here. Yay! Please tell me what you guys think._

_- Carley xx_


	2. Chapter 2

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ᏎᎷᎧᏁᎿᏥᏕ ᏝᎯᎿᏋᏒ

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The last four months had gone surprisingly well Dean and Bobby thought, Sam wasn't trying to kill Bobby anymore seeing as far as he was concerned his soul was lost for good and he didn't need Balthazar's spell thing as Alex had put it and Cas had told them that he had a plan to get the upper hand in the angel civil war so as long as that turned out well there'd be no more trouble upstairs... Hopefully. Dean was still no closer to figuring out who Alex had been but he knew he'd known him (or her) during their life because Alex had told him and he just seemed so goddamned familiar and because he could tell that Sam recognised him but every time Dean questioned him he just shrugged it off and told him he wasn't sure. Bobby had no clue either and Cas was more or less of grid all the time so they had no idea if he knew but Alex knew him so the fact that the four of them all knew him narrowed it down somewhat but they were still no closer to the discovery which seemed to please Alex for some reason, almost as if he were ashamed to let them know of what he'd become.

They were now on what they thought was a routine hunt but how long had it been for them since anything was just routine? They knew something was up they just didn't know what. They gathered intel like normal but were completely stumped. Dean tapped impatiently on the grimy motel bed as he waited for Bobby to pick up. "What d'ya want this time idjit?" he answered oh so sweetly. "Nice to talk to you too Bobby." Dean replied as he placed the phone on the bedside table and put it on speaker. "Well we got no clue with this one Bobby. Children going missing late at night after claiming to have seen some kind of large raven always after it became dark." Sam started explain when his own phone started ringing. He picked up the phone and quickly recognized the number. "Hang on Bobby I'm getting a call from the leading officer in this case." He told him and answered the phone. "Hello officer what is it?" Dean heard Sam say as he started telling Bobby more about the case. "The kids have all been young Bobby, like three to eight kinda young. This is one sick creature, we need to gank it and fast." He said. "I know Dean but ya can't gank it until ya know what it is." He replied sounding equally frustrated. He heard his brother say his name and turned to face him. "They found the first missing kid, the four year old. His arms and legs had been ripped off and were practically just bone and his heart had been eaten." Sam repeated what the officer had told him to Dean and Bobby. "Sounds like a Nachtkrapp, that's weird." A different voice from Bobby's end said.

Dean and Sam shared glanced and Sam shrugged. "Bobby have you got Alex with you?" Dean asked with his eyebrows raised, even though Bobby obviously couldn't see. "Yes he does. Hi Dean, hi Sam." Alex replied before Bobby had a chance to. "Why are you there?" Sam asked, just as curious as Dean about the reasoning behind it. "He's helping me find your soul, what did ya think I was doing in my free time, ya idjit?" Bobby shot back and Sam shifted uncomfortably, obviously still not wanting his soul. "Oh, well uh thanks, I guess? Anyway whats so strange about it being a Nachtkrapp? And what is a Nachtkrapp?" Dean asked Alex. "Literally means Night Raven and they're nasty sons of bitches is what they are, they take children that see them back to their nest and eat them. First they rip off the arms and then the legs and then… they eat the heart. No one knows if the kids are alive when they start but it's a safe bet that they are seeing as they don't appear to have a different cause of death. The reason it's weird is because they don't leave Germany." Alex let the details roll off his tongue easily. Dean grimaced and Sam appeared unfazed and Dean wondered why for a second before remembering oh wait, he doesn't have a soul. "How'd you know all this?" Sam asked because Dean was just trying hard not to be sick. "I have my sources." Alex replied and the others noted the sadness in his voice that he desperately, but unsuccessfully, tried to hide. They knew that there was far more to that story than he would ever let on and they probably wouldn't find out.

"Alright so how do we kill it?" Sam asked after an extended silence and there was a pause from Alex for a long while. "No idea." He replied finally and Dean looked taken aback. "Wha d'ya mean? Surely you gotta know something!" he argued his voice level raising with each word. "I don't know Dean! No one has ever killed one of these things! They're serious business and really hard to find so there isn't a way to know you're just gonna have to pray a shotgun works I guess." Came Alex's disgruntled response. Dean walked over to one side of the crappy motel room and punched the wall as hard as he could and Sam watched knowing he should be feeling bad for his brother but just being completely unable to. "Wait angels can destroy anything, right? Let's call in a favour from Cas."Sam said to Dean as he came to the realisation himself. "Okay. Dear Castiel we pray for you to get your butt down here before lots of kids die because of some creepy thing called a Nachtkepp which we can't kill because we don't know how." Dean spoke towards the ceiling as he sat back on the bed and nursed his hand. They heard a flutter of wings and turned to see Cas had appeared at the door. "You called Dean? Hello Sam." Cas said in his usual distant tone.


End file.
